Not much can be said about UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre that hasn’t already been driven into the mud. As reigning champion, he has dominated the welterweight division so thoroughly that he appears to be looping back through a backlog of contenders just to find a credible challenger, as upcoming opponent Josh Koscheck was the first victim on the Canadian’s current seven-fight winning streak.

Currently in the midst of filming the twelfth season of The Ultimate Fighter, St-Pierre recently took some time away after a stressful day on set to conduct an interview with Tapology’s Steven Kelliher. In the interview, St-Pierre discussed a myriad of topics including his reasoning for signing on as a TUF coach, what he thinks about Koscheck as an opponent, and why he can’t wait to take his outspoken rival on later this year.Tapology: Did you get a chance to see Chuck Liddell’s last fight, and if so, how difficult do you think it would be for you to walk away from the sport in the midst of a losing streak like many have been asking him to do?

St-Pierre: I did see it. I’m not at the same time in my career as Chuck Liddell is right now, but for sure for me to stop fighting, I would have a hard time. It must be pretty hard for him. I don’t know when I’m going to quit, but I’m sure it will be hard.

Tapology: Some fans have been critical of fighters such as yourself and Rashad Evans, saying that you fight too conservatively. Does that bother you considering he fact that you continuously dominate the best competition in your weight class?

St-Pierre: It doesn’t bother me. I always fight against my opponent’s weaknesses. I fight smart. People remember the winners—they don’t remember the losers. They want to see the best fighters. In my last fight, it wasn’t very exciting, but I made a couple of mistakes—I should have finished him—but Dan Hardy is a lot better than people thought and to be honest, things like that happen.

People don’t want to see fighters who are not good and just go in for a war because everybody can go in for a war, but not everybody is a good fighter.

Tapology: According to the UFC, you have won the most consecutive rounds in UFC history. How do you feel about that?

St-Pierre: I actually did not know about that, but that is a good accomplishment.

Tapology: I wanted to ask you about Anderson Silva. A lot of people criticized you for your last fight but they were all over him for his last fight. Did you think he was disrespectful to Demian Maia?

St-Pierre: You know, it’s a question of style, you know what I mean? I think it was up to the other guy to put on more pressure than Anderson Silva. For sure Silva was tired—he did a lot of fakes and stuff like that—but I don’t know what happened. For the first two rounds I think it was a great display of Muay Thai and Capoeira, but I heard he said some bad things in the fourth round and that was not nice. I don’t know what happened between these two guys before, but for me it’s not my style to talk like this.

Tapology: When I spoke with your manager, Shari Spencer, we discussed your growing popularity among fight fans. How difficult has that adjustment been for you in terms of dealing with this fame?

St-Pierre: It’s really hard. There is a lot of pressure everywhere, but I try to be nice to everyone because the fans are the people that make me do what I do for a living.

Tapology: You are coaching on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter. Why did you decide to agree to this coaching spot? What excited you about the opportunity?

St-Pierre: It’s a good experience to offer my knowledge to the guys. It’s going to be a completely different season than every other season before. A lot of things have happened and a lot of people will see a different side of my personality coaching against Josh Koscheck.

Tapology: Everyone knew heading into the season that Koscheck was going to talk smack about you, and he has already started by making accusations in the media. Is it easy for you to remain calm and collected in these situations or do you get angry behind the scenes?

St-Pierre: For sure I get angry, I get mad, and sometimes I want to say bad things but I am a martial artist. I stand for something and I fight for something and it’s not my style to talk like that even though sometimes it’s hard. It’s a lot harder to not [talk smack] than to let yourself go and be disrespectful. That is my nature. I want to take the high road.

Tapology: In terms of the fight, do you think Koscheck is going to be your toughest challenge?

St-Pierre: It’s going to be the toughest challenge. He’s very skilled and he’s the kind of fighter that is very well rounded. A lot of the guys that I have fought are good on the ground or on the feet, but they have holes in their game. Koscheck is like me; he’s not the best striker, not the best wrestler, not the best Jiu-Jitsu guy, but he can do it all so it’s going to be interesting. You’re going to see a mix of different things; it’s going to be good.

Tapology: A lot of people that you have fought, including Koscheck, Hardy, and others, have said that you have no chin. You have obviously taken hard shots in training and in your fights, so how do you feel when fighters say that about you because of your loss to Serra?

St-Pierre: Well we will see who has the best chin in my fight. I can’t wait to see that. I’m very confident and it’s not because I’m afraid of getting hit that I don’t get hit, I think it’s just stupid to get hit.

Tapology: Last time we spoke you had put on a considerable amount of size and power. For this fight, have you continued to get bigger and stronger or have you been working on some other things?

St-Pierre: I’m working on some different things. I don’t want to be too big, but I’m much more powerful. I hit much harder and I’m much stronger, so it’s going to be good.

Tapology: You are probably the best fighter in the world at transitioning during your fights. How do you train to be able to do that?

St-Pierre: There are a lot of drills that I do, but it’s about my training so I don’t want to say because I don’t want people to copy me and then learn from it, but it is because of my trainers and training partners that I transition so well.

Tapology: One of the most interesting aspects of your training is the fact that your travel around to train with the best in the world in various styles. Are you able to pick things up in new styles very easily and implement them into your style?

St-Pierre: Yes of course. Every day I learn new things, and that’s one of the reasons I brought my trainers with me to Las Vegas for The Ultimate Fighter, because I use them for my training.

Tapology: Do you think your background in traditional martial arts has helped you to learn some of these techniques?

St-Pierre: Absolutely. I think it is important that I am a martial artist because I have the respect and mentality to learn everything.

Tapology: What do you think about some fighters and fans who trash on traditional martial arts and why do you think they are wrong to do that?

St-Pierre: The people that trash talk traditional martial arts have no clue. They don’t know the game and they don’t have the knowledge. I consider wrestling a martial art and boxing a martial art. Everything, including Judo and Taekwondo, works; it just depends on how you apply it. It is the martial artist that makes the style efficient, not the style that makes the martial artist efficient.

Tapology: With that being said, do you think that traditional martial arts are sort of dying out these days in favor of MMA competition training?

St-Pierre: No it doesn’t die at all. All of the champions in the UFC are traditional martial artists. Look at Muhammed Lawal—he is a wrestler. I am a Karate fighter, Machida was Karate and now Shogun is Muay Thai. BJ Penn was Jiu-Jitsu and now Edgar was wrestling. Every one of them comes from a traditional martial arts background.

I think it’s wrong to train MMA all the time. MMA is not a sport by itself; you need to train different aspects of the game.

Tapology: How are you going to use the time off to your advantage and why are you a better fighter than Josh Koscheck?

St-Pierre: I’m going to use this long layoff to come back as a much more improved version than I was in my last fight. I’m a better fighter than Josh Koscheck because I’m more well rounded and I will have the right strategy to fight him.

My best performances are still to come. I haven’t reached my prime yet.

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f2/st-pierre-interview-well-we-will-see-who-has-best-chin-my-fight-1253509/#post39868809 St-Pierre Interview: Well we will see who has the best chin in my fight. – Sherdog Mixed Martial Arts Forums

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Very nice interview Sir Steven Kelliher!Those were good questions.
Cant wait to see the next season of TUF.I never watched an entire episode of TUF;only the fights were interesting to me.All the drama and other shit never did.But with GSP and Kosh being there,it will change everything.Of course I’m a GSP ‘s fan.And proud of it actually.
I really think it will be an interesting fight between those two.Kos will be able to challenge GSP more than his last opponents.They were all too weak for GSP,so thats why ppl were sometime disappointed.It take two fighters to make a good fight,
I dont understand why GSP was the only one to be find accountable.Sure it would’ve been great for GSP to finished those fights,but he didnt.But every fights was a hell of a show,to me at least.
A total domination of an opponent!All of them ranked in the top 10 best fighters in the world!GSP had the total control over his body,the situation…he was controlling everything from the start till the end!Thats why I hope the next fight will be different.
He need to be challenged a lil bit!When you make Thiago Alves or Jon Fitch look like total beginners,you know you are good!
Lets just hope Josh wont have another “Koscheck Connections” up his ass!
-”I’m not sure if it was a knee,or a toe(!!!)but I know I’ve been hit.”WTF!Shut up!
I cant wait…

http://topsy.com/trackback?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tapology.com%2F2010%2F06%2Fgeorges-st-pierre-interview-a-different-side-to-rush%2Fcomment-page-1%2F%23comment-872&utm_source=pingback&utm_campai Tweets that mention Georges St-Pierre Exclusive Interview: A Different Side to ‘Rush’? — Topsy.com

just1moreguy, you better belive he (Kos) will have another fake hit up hin ass, he pulls them out every time he gets an opportunity to do so. That is just the type of fighter he is!

With that being said, I still belive GSP will handle him like he does the rest. From where I´m standing Fitch is a tuffer guy than Kos coould ever dream about. If Dana doesn´t pull Kos out of the UFC next time, or at leas warn the guy big time he doesn´t deserve to gain any money from Kos fights.